This invention relates to a method for corrosion protection of thin film metal conductors on semiconductor devices, and more particularly corrosion initiated during sawing of semiconductor wafers.
A patterned thin film of aluminum or one of its alloys is widely used as the conductor which interconnects structures on integrated circuits and forms the input/output pads on the circuits. It has emerged as the material of choice because of its low resistivity, and because of its compatibility with silicon oxide and other materials used in fabrication of integrated circuits. Such films are deposited as polycrystalline materials, usually in the 0.5 to 1.5 micron thickness range.
Aluminum alloys are used more frequently than pure aluminum because they possess enhanced properties with certain interconnect requirements, including superior contact formation, and better resistance to electromigration. Among the alloys commonly used are aluminum with 2 or 4 weight percent copper, aluminum with 1 weight percent silicon, and aluminum with 1 weight percent silicon and 2 weight percent copper.
While aluminum has excellent properties for integrated circuit conductors, it also does suffers from some problems, among them is that it is readily corroded. Dry etching of aluminum may leave a chloride residue on the aluminum surface and exposure to moisture can lead to formation of HCl, which in turn reacts with aluminum to produces AlCl3.
If copper is present as an alloy in the aluminum film, severe corrosion can occur, because CuAl2 and aluminum form a galvanic couple with HCl acting as the electrolyte, and driving the corrosion more rapidly than in pure aluminum films. Consequently, the amount of residual chloride necessary to induce corrosion is much lower when copper is present in the aluminum film.
The interconnection circuitry on a chip is largely covered by a dielectric film of silicon oxide, silicon nitride, or other impervious substance, but the input/output sites or bond pads are not covered by the protective overcoat in order to provide for connection of wire bonds or other metallic contacts to an external circuit. Therefore, these pads are subjected to moisture and to other forms of contamination which may lead to corrosion.
Following fabrication of the circuits on a wafer, and covering the circuitry with a protective overcoat, one of the next process steps is dicing or sawing the wafer into individual chips. Typically, the wafer is held on a chuck, a diamond impregnated saw blade is aligned to scribe lines on the wafer, and the computer operated saw dices the wafer while using high purity water as coolant.
A second source of corrosion is introduced solely during the sawing process. Corrosion is electrochemical in nature and the rate of corrosion is dependent on the ability of electrons to move through the materials and electrolytes involved in the reaction. To minimize corrosion, during the sawing process, the cooling water used is very pure, typically 10 Meg ohm-cm. The high resistivity has a disadvantage of allowing a build up of static charge. The charge can cause damage to chip circuits, as well as accelerate bond pad corrosion. Further, the static electricity makes removal of silicon particles generated during sawing difficult, and after sawing, accumulations of particles remain where water is trapped between the particles by capillary action. With the charge on the surface, water will ionize allowing movement of the electrons which in turn initiate corrosion. It has been noted that the chip circuitry acts to distribute the charge, causing specific areas and bond pads on the chip to demonstrate obvious discoloration, or initial stages of corrosion after sawing. If some conductivity is introduced to the water, typically by bubbling CO2, the same ionization allows corrosion to occur.
Yet another source of aluminum corrosion during sawing has been proposed, as erosion-corrosion from a high velocity of liquid impinging on the exposed metal pads causing mechanically initiated corrosion.
The multiple sources for corrosion of exposed thin film aluminum during the dicing process are highly aggravated in the copper alloys of aluminum. Corrosion is not only a latent reliability issue for integrated circuit devices, but also is a yield issue as a result of interference with the wire bonding process. It is difficult to make the gold wire adhere and form the strong intermetallics necessary for reliable devices with dark or partially corroded bond pads. Further, the discoloration causes difficulty with the vision system of high speed wire bonding equipment and thus decrease yield and through-put.
It would be advantageous to the industry if corrosion of interconnection metallization and bond pads could be inhibited or altogether prohibited.
An objective of the current invention is to provide a method for preventing corrosion of aluminum metallization on integrated circuit devices wherein the corrosion is initiated during wafer sawing.
Another objective of the current invention is to provide a dicing saw structure which inhibits corrosion of aluminum.
It is an object of this invention to provide a sacrificial anode which corrodes preferentially to aluminum during the sawing process.
It is further an objective of this invention to provide a cost effective means of eliminating aluminum corrosion initiated during the sawing process.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method for inhibiting corrosion of interconnect metallization on integrated circuit devices without requiring extra processing steps, or significant changes to the dicing equipment.
It is an objective of this invention to improve reliability of integrated circuits by avoiding corrosion initiated during wafer dicing.
It is still yet another objective of the invention to increase yield at the wire bond operation by eliminating bond pad corrosion resulting from the sawing process.
These objectives are met by providing a sacrificial anode containing magnesium in contact with the integrated circuit wafer during the sawing or dicing process. A galvanic couple allows corrosion of the metal having the lowest potential, magnesium (xe2x88x922.36 volts), to corrode in preference to aluminum (xe2x88x921.67 volts) using cooling water as the electrolyte. The magnesium anode is preferably provided as a relatively thin film directly in contact with the surface of the dicing blade.
Alternately, a disk containing magnesium which extends below the surface of the cooling water and is secured alongside the dicing blade. A third embodiment provides a source of magnesium positioned under the wafer.
It has long been known that corrosion of aluminum is significantly reduced by the presence of magnesium, or magnesium in combination with other metals, such as zinc and manganese serving as a sacrificial anode, and therefore, the presence of a magnesium sacrificial anode during the wafer sawing process prevents corrosion of thin film aluminum on an integrated circuit by transferring corrosion to the magnesium. xe2x80x9cRegistration Record of International Alloy Designation and Chemical Composition Limits for Wrought Aluminum and Wrought Aluminum Alloysxe2x80x9d, revised Sep. 1, 1976 and published by Aluminum Association, Inc. provides information on alloys which inhibit aluminum corrosion.
The foregoing and other objectives, features and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.